Dragon

Dragons are three of the seven honor tiles: White (haku), Green (hatsu), and Red (chun). White is often drawn as a blank or framed tile, Green bears a stylized character, and Red shows a red character. Like all honors, dragons have no numeric value and cannot form chows; they appear only as pairs, pungs, or kongs.

What makes dragons special is that they always score. A triplet (or kong) of any dragon is a yakuhai value set in every major variant, worth points regardless of who holds it, unlike winds whose value depends on your seat and the round. This guaranteed value makes a dragon pair one of the most useful shapes to hold, because completing it into a triplet hands you a valid hand by itself in riichi and a faan in Hong Kong play.

Dragons also anchor several prestige hands. Little three dragons (shousangen) is two dragon triplets plus a pair of the third dragon; big three dragons (daisangen) is triplets of all three and is a limit/yakuman hand in riichi and a top-tier hand elsewhere. In some rule sets White, Green, and Red also interact thematically with a 'three colors' motif, though their scoring power comes from the yakuhai rule rather than color.

Because they are so valuable, dragons are double-edged in defense: discarding one when an opponent already shows a dragon pair can deal into a big hand, while a lone dragon is usually safe early. For example, if you hold Green-Green and draw or claim a third Green, Green-Green-Green is an instant yakuhai; collect Red-Red-Red and White-White alongside it and you are one tile from little three dragons.